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U.S. senators push bipartisan state health care waiver

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WASHINGTON (Reuters)—A Democrat and a Republican teamed up in the U.S. Senate on Thursday to offer legislation that would give states the flexibility to implement their own health care approaches when the federal overhaul goes into full effect in 2014.

The proposal by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., moves up the date when states can apply for waivers from the federal law in order to implement their own approaches.

The law, which passed in March, currently allows states to apply for waivers in 2017.

Under the Wyden and Brown proposal, states could apply for an exemption from some requirements of the reform law—including the mandate that everyone purchase insurance and the employer penalty for not providing coverage—if they offer an alternative that is considered at least as effective and affordable.

"States shouldn't be forced by the federal government to adopt a one-size-fits-all health care plan. Each state's health care needs are different," Sen. Brown, who opposed the federal overhaul, said in a statement.

"Our bill provides flexibility and allows states like Massachusetts to opt out of portions of the health care law," said Sen. Brown, whose home state of Massachusetts has its own comprehensive health care law.

Republicans have promised to make the health care overhaul, a centerpiece of President Barack Obama's legislative agenda that was strongly opposed by health insurers, a prime target for repeal or modification in the next Congress.

The waiver plan is the first concrete proposal to amend provisions of the health care law, but it is expected to be just one of many health care proposals competing for a hearing in the new Congress.

Health insurer Humana Inc. on Thursday projected sharply lower profit next year driven by lower margins in its coverage plan for Medicare, the federal insurance program for the elderly.

Sen. Wyden was a supporter of the federal health care overhaul and authored the provision in the current law that lets states seek waivers beginning in 2017.

But he said states like Massachusetts and his home state of Oregon, which also has its own alternative health care programs, might have to abandon at least temporarily their state-based initiatives if they have to implement the federal law before getting waivers.

"Bumping up the start date means that states can focus on ways to make the new health law work at its best from day one," Sen. Wyden said in a statement.